Go to a City Council meeting if you haven’t. Learn what decisions our representatives are making. See how the process works for speaking and letting your voice be heard. And then let your voice influence the direction of this city. Hold our city leadership accountable.

Asheville City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 5 p.m. The agenda is released the Friday before. Take time to read the City Council Agenda. See what decisions our city is making. Let them know what you care about. For instance — as I read today I see that the architect firm that is being hired for a $188,000 contract to redesign the ART Transit Station is not local. I think we should be putting more pressure on the council and city manager to be hiring contractors and consultants from Asheville. There is also a resolution to establish a Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee. I wonder if our people who are living and working on the streets are supportive of this initiative.

Some people marched yesterday.
Marching at a Womens March illustrated numbers and allows people to feel the presence of other bodies standing up at this tim. It’s a chance to sing, chant and learn from each other, be in conversation about what is important. As my brother said, yesterday’s march was the “easy public place” to vocalize resistance or vocalize what you believe in. It was also a day for many people to be recharged and revitalized in a time when it is essential that as many of us as possible have the energy and motivation to keep acting so things will change for those who are most vulnerable at this time. If you marched, I hope it nourished and motivated you in some way that helps you stay engaged.

Some people did not march yesterday.
Some are not able to march. Some did not feel included in the purpose of the march. Some did not feel a clear purpose behind the march. Some are standing and resisting in other ways all the time and did not feel the need to march. Some saw this as an opportunity to hold people in positions of power accountable and educate about the ways officials are using their power. Some did not feel safe at the march.

I believe that the majority of Americans are unpracticed in how to stand up to the state, corporate, and institutional powers that control and govern our society. More of us continue to wake up every day, feeling the churning in our gut, the fire in our heart that says, “Things aren’t right. You have to be a part of changing things. You have a role to play in creating a future that you dream of. You are part of the solution to stop the horrors that many are facing right now.” Fortunately, elder organizers remind us that civic engagement is a skill that gets better with practice.

I am beyond grateful that we are hearing the calls. I pray that we will take risks, be bold, and turn towards one another to learn from each other about how to move forward in response to this call. I emphatically believe that the answers emerge from:

listening deeply to the inner voices of divine guidance

listening intently and responding to the guidance from those who are most impacted by the injustice, discrimination and inequity

working together

If you are feeling uncomfortable with the diverse perspectives around the march and how to make change, if you’re feeling uncertain about what is the “right” thing to do — GOOD. If we are not practiced in standing up for what is right, it is valuable for us to feel unsettled as we step into this territory. The habits and patterns and behaviors that have allowed us to get to this point require undoing. We need to be disoriented and unsettled so that we can connect to the solid ground of our values, be vulnerable in unfamiliar territory, and allow the fire-to-act to grow stronger within us. The more we unsettle our old ways of being, the clearer we will get. That means unsettling feelings of righteousness as well. Then we can genuinely recognize when we take steps forward that influence growing the world we dream of. A better future requires our participation now in order for it to come to life.

Thank you Chris Corrigan, for inviting me into the power of the word/practice of unsettling.

I’ve been thinking a lot about tomorrow’s women’s march, particularly the one in Asheville. I imagine a sea of people with smiles, excitement and signs — feeling inspired that others are “showing up”. Feeling proud of marching in the name of things they believe in or things they are against. And yet… I also have a hollow pit in my stomach when I think about it– what good is it? What have the people marching done in the year since they last marched to actively change the discrimination and violence that is happening in our own community? How are people changing their own lives, making sacrifices that make lives better for those who are most targeted — which are NOT white, cisgendered women?

Then I read the below statement from Tranzmission, a local group that I really respect. So much of Asheville’s institutional leadership is not bold, is not willing to take risks to stand up for what is morally and ethically right. And so many of Asheville’s people have not been willing to stand up to this leadership, to demand better, to push for what is morally and ethically right. We have to do better. And to do better, we have to actually DO THINGS — not just voice our outrage and find others to complain with.

If you’re going to tomorrow’s march, I’d love to hear what you are invested in doing this next month to be a part of change here in Asheville. I do not judge your choice to recharge and remotivate in a public way, I just plead that you don’t stop there and that the rush of energy you get from being engaged gets translated to a city council room, attending a board of commissions, putting pressure on the people you know who hold positions of influence in local government, at Mission, at the universities, in the school system, police or sheriff’s department, etc. Consider putting your AirBnb up for rent instead and accept section 8. Do something radical, take a chance in service to actually being a part of real change. I continue to believe that Asheville is capable of remarkable shifts… but it will take all of us being active much more than the majority of us currently are.

In 2018 here in North Carolina, we get to be a part of electing our judges and sheriffs. These people hold a lot of power and influence. Do you care about what “the law” determines is fair or not fair, just or not, reasonable punishment or not? Do you care about how law enforcement enact their jobs?

The people that are elected into these roles will hold power that allows them to influence large numbers of people’s lives. So — We’ve got 9 months to learn about the people that are wanting to be elected and to influence the outcome of who is elected.

Continued confessions: It is new for me to be engaged in the governing/politicing process, all year long, not just around elections. Thank you to those that have been and those that paved the way for me to be. I still don’t see the system working effectively — but I see potential and I’m joining the experiment more actively.

In past elections, I found people I trusted and followed their voting reccomendations. I voted. I “did my part” and that was that. I didn’t vote for Burr or Tillis but I also was not aware of who they were and what they were up to. And then I started waking up to the power grab happening in North Carolina and across the country. I began imagining what life could be like if rather than just voting, moral people were more involved in how our cities, states and country are actually run. Being involved is different than just having an opinion. I’m still discovering the ways to be involved that are right for me. It started with attending Moral Monday rallies. Starting to follow policy decisions and items up for votes. Then attending local city council and boards/commission meetings, making public comments to Council and at local community input opportunities, making calls to state senators and representatives, and having real conversations about these topics with family and friends. I’m learning and growing. I am grateful to all the people, especially our elders, who fought for the rights of our democracy to actually work to serve all people who live in this country… and who have always been engaged and active. I’m curious if more of us will join them and this American experiment in democracy will continue… or if it’s too late and we are too deeply embedded in a political structure run by wealthy individuals, corporations and interest groups that are acting as if this is a democracy.

“Burr topped the list with nearly $7 million in NRA support over his more than 20 years in Congress, according to the report.

Tillis, who has been in Congress for less than three years, ranked third on the center’s list, with more than $4.4 million in total support.”